"Can do it all" fixed blade - advice please!

As noted earlier there a re few dealers that stock Dozier knives.

agrussell.com being the most prominent.

Regardless, best of luck on your choices. :)
 
http://www.fallkniven.com/S1new.html

Fallkniven!

Just got my own S1 forest knife. Its amazing, VG10 steel, razor sharp (I cut myself just running it over my fingertip with no pressure!) It has a spine along the top and is pretty thick throughout. For its size its a good weight (compared to my Gerber lmf 2 the weight in the handle is at least twice as light.) In all its very well made, and a great survival knife.

5 inches fixed blade modified drop point, good handle, available with plastic (good plastic) or a couple types of leather sheaths. The black coating I got it in is pretty sexy.

The leather sheaths look great and I would have gotten a knife with one of those had this not been for my army work. I almost regret that I'm gonna have to tarnish it up.

I got it from New Graham, good for personal service, ~120 US
http://www.newgraham.com/

Theres also the F1 which is an inch shorter and 20 bucks less or so.
 
shooterpunk said:
do bark rivers come with sheathes?
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Most come with leather sheaths, some come with kydex sheaths.

The sheaths are good imho.

To the knife choice:

The BRKT Bravo will handle anything and was actually good for skinning and parting up a reindeer last fall. It is probably thicker than needed, but the grind is very good and it works surprisingly well for delicate tasks as well.

A BRKT Fox river or Canadian Special would also be a great knife, the CS is probably the best alround outdoor knife of the ones I've seen posted.

BRKT: micro Canadian, Bravo, Aurora and Northstar (Helle Futura)

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A2 is pretty corrosion resistant after it has developed a bit of patina like the ones above.

Sverre
 
To carrot and BigMike ...

Great knives!! I'm relatively new into knives (but WELL into firearms ;)) and hadn't really seen any of Dozier's knives. LOVE THEM! I see a Master Skinner in my future, soon!!!
 
Thanks. Now I'm jonesing for a Bark River Bravo 1, while my Fallkniven F1 is fine for this role. Just want it, that is all. :D
 
Everyone here has been exceptionally helpful, thank you all, this is truly an incredible community. I want to give a special thanks to Twinblade, Carrot, Halbie and ADD who have stuck with this thread, always offering valuable advice.

My tentative plan is to check for any knife shows, and barring none soon, order a Barkie and place an order on a custom Dozier. I browsed their forums, and it seems common over there to pick a handle style you like, pick a blade style, then pick the length of the blade. Like making a knife from LEGO pieces :) I am really excited

Carrot - thanks for exposing me to Dozier, and all the other knives. I feel my blade knowledge has expanded 10fold in this thread.

ADD - I'm basically taking your Delta Traveler and tweaking it. That knife looks like it can do it all! Well done

Halbie - your collection is beautiful. Don't tell anyone else about K***h O**e so we can manage the demand! (j/k, keith ouye knives are stunning)
 
I got my Dozier Wilderness knife at the Blade Show in Atlanta this past June. I tend to buy one of his blades a year. Bob Dozier brings quite a few new knives with him to that show. I don't know how far you are from Atlanta, but the show next June should be exceptional (as always). It is one of those shows that you spend days at rather than hours. There are so many custom knife craftmen there that it becomes a bit overwhelming if you try to take it too fast.

I am also planning on buying a Bark River knife later on this year.
 
D2 is really only brittle if its a bad heat treat. In fact i'd suggest you take a look at the swamp rat safari skinner over in the exchange right now. It will stack up to anything.

A thin Busse Game warden might doo the trick too. I've never had a bark river but i hear very good things and will have to pick one up this year.

I have had my Emerson 154cm chip a little on the edge, and my Spyderco Native S30v chip a little too. Never had any problems with them after they got resharpened but might be an issue in the field.

Never had any problems with my Busse D2, 154CM, infi or SR-101.

I would make sure if getting a busse family knife as most of them are very stout, making slicing tougher...

I would go with the classic combo, a big heavy knife and vic trekker or somehting.
 
Just a note, there will be a special run of Bravo-1's in stainless steel sometime this year. If you're into stainless, it'll be one to take a look at before they're gone.
 
Activities:
-Must be capable skinner (boar/deer)
-Must be capable at gutting fish (mountain trout)
-Must be capable camp knife (dinner/etc)
-Must be capable fire tool (kindling, battoning)
-Must obviously be durable. Perhaps rust resistant
-Able to be field sharpened reasonably
-Follow me for 2 months on the Pacific Crest next spring
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OK, having a knife that's long enough to be good at chopping or batoning wood is going to compromise the features you'll use far more often. AFAIK, you can't make fires on the PCT anyway (someone correct me if this is wrong). So, I'd optimize for knife jobs and stick with smaller wood if necessary.

I've had very, very good luck with the BRKT Aurora
AfricanBlackwoodSolid.jpg


I have big hands and the handle fits me great -- not many knives can say that.
I can say this thing is murder on game/food prep, it seems to be effortless.
I also tried batoning it, just to see how it would take it. I batoned it through some 4" diameter well seasoned birch rounds (that I had trouble getting a 18" 1.75 pound hatcjhet through). I beat it through with another 2" diameter birch round. It split the rounds sans trouble, and destroyed the baton. Even though I had to hit it near the tip (as it was nearly as long as the rounds were wide), you can't even tell by looking at the knife that it took that kind of abuse.

I was originally really wanting a RAT RC-4, but it seems the handle is a bit shorter than the Aurora's, and I just can't see myself getting another knife in that size. I'm that sold on the Aurora.

If you want more belly, the Bravo-1 looks nice, as does the Big Mountain Skinner:
bigmtnskindcm.jpg


The Canadian Special is a classic design, and there's also its big brother, the Canadian Camp knife that has a 6.5" blade:
Canad_Camp_Amb_S_Blk_Lnr.jpg
 
I have been using my Scrapyard S6 for years now and my friends even borrow it for hunting and camping trips. My son always wants to take it trips when he heads to the woods. It has never failed me and I would tell you to overlook it's size (med Big) it is very easy to do the most delicate of camp chores. It has dressed and skinned many medium to large size animals as well as a few Trout & small game. It's my personel favorite in my collection!!!!
DSC01479.jpg
 
UCberzerkeley said:
My tentative plan is to check for any knife shows, and barring none soon, order a Barkie and place an order on a custom Dozier. I browsed their forums, and it seems common over there to pick a handle style you like, pick a blade style, then pick the length of the blade. Like making a knife from LEGO pieces :) I am really excited

Carrot - thanks for exposing me to Dozier, and all the other knives. I feel my blade knowledge has expanded 10fold in this thread.

ADD - I'm basically taking your Delta Traveler and tweaking it. That knife looks like it can do it all! Well done

Halbie - your collection is beautiful. Don't tell anyone else about K***h O**e so we can manage the demand! (j/k, keith ouye knives are stunning)
Click to expand...


A knife show is a great idea. You can look at pics all day but until ya put a knife in your hand... well. :)
Lot of great knife suggestions have been given.

As was posted earlier Vintageknives.com is an authorized Dozier dealer.
Billy at Vintageknives actually designed the Delta Traveler (a stretched Arkansas Traveler) and if you want one you order through him (great guy) and he puts the order into Dozier.
By doing this you will also cut down the wait time considerably than going straight through Dozier, maybe down to a couple of months. Vintage can show you some other pics of the Traveler if needed.

Dozier's legendary heat treat of D2 is second to none and is done in house.
But, he does offer other steel options are available as well. :eek:

Also, Vintageknives has some very nice Matt Caldwell knives in that have had very good reviews... plus a bit cheaper. :thumbup:
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Hey this is a great thread people, if I had not gone and ordered a knife through a custom knifemaker yesterday then I think that Dozier Delta Traveller would have been me.

As it is why not go talk to a custom knifemaker and get them to make you YOUR perfect knife? And matching sheath?

Me, I have a 6 mm thick piece of D2 being shaped and then heat treated for me as we speak...and black and tan G10 handles, combined with grey and black mil spec for the blade (needs to be mil speced in NZ or it will rust-you may want to think about that).

Now I am just trying to decide between a kydex or a leather sheath...maybe get both!
 
Somebody say Dozier knives?
DozierSlim.gif

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There are lots of Dozier dealers on the net, lots have stock in hand.
I bet you could ask for a list at the Dozier forum.
www.dozierknives.com

I don't know if I'd do the baton thing with them...
Then again I think that the baton thing his over rated.
 
I've been eyeballing that Caldwell knife on Vintage knives for a while. That thing looks sweet. The 3D machined scales look pretty comfortable.
 
i am down on the Bravo1 because of the thumb ramp, it looks like it would really get in the way with certain grips for dressing game
 
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